The Winterhawks have signed goaltending prospect Dante Giannuzzi. https://t.co/hl3sQ4SLmK pic.twitter.com/70eocJMpau
— Portland Winterhawks (@pdxwinterhawks) November 3, 2017
The Portland Winterhawks made the signing of goaltender Dante Giannuzzi official on Friday afternoon. They took Giannuzzi in the fifth round of last May’s bantam draft out of Winnipeg. According to Elite Prospects, he has posted a 1.35 GAA and 0.953 save percentage in five games with Rink Academy Elits 15s. He has also played one game with Rink’s prep team in the CSSHL.
Dante is a smaller goalie at 5-foot-8 but makes up for his lack of size with some pretty incredible athleticism. He was stellar while playing for Team Johansen at the Neely Cup, especially in the championship game-a 6-3 win over Team Coburn.
With Ethan Middendorf appearing to be out of the picture, it looks like this signing gives Portland four signed goaltenders.
The picture starts to look a little clearer for the future, as they now have a ’97 (Cole Kehler), a ’99 (Shane Farkas), a ’01 (Evan Fradette) and an ’02 (Dante Giannuzzi) signed.
Giannuzzi could push for some playing time next year with a solid camp and preseason as Kehler will no longer be eligible to play in the WHL.
He wowed a lot of viewers recently at the WHL Cup in Calgary, where he posted a 3.62 GAA in three games, while playing for Team Manitoba. He along with fellow Winterhawks-signed, Manitoba native Seth Jarvis, led his team to the Bronze Medal. Along with Jarvis and now Giannuzzi, the other signed 2017 draft pick is forward Cross Hanas.
